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Journals & Magazines > Journal of Lightwave Technology > Volume: 40 Issue: 5 
New Generation Free-Space Optical Communication Systems With Advanced

Optical Beam Stabilizer
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Abdelmoula Bekkali ; Hideo Fujita ; Michikazu Hattori All Authors 
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I. Introduction
Abstract:In this paper, we introduce a novel concept and design of a full-duplex and all-optical FSO transceiver and
II. FSO System Architecture evaluate its transmission performance in 200 m outdoor environ... View more
and Transceiver Design
III. All-Optical FSO

 Metadata
Transceiver With Abstract:
Dynamic Optical Beam In this paper, we introduce a novel concept and design of a full-duplex and all-optical FSO transceiver and evaluate its
Stabilization transmission performance in 200 m outdoor environment. Our transceiver enables a reliable fiber-to-fiber FSO link with
intelligent lens-based optical-beam-stabilization (OBS) by utilizing miniaturized and cost-effective 3-axis voice-coil
IV. Experimental
motors (VCMs) actuators. The VCM-based moving lens that is widely used in smartphone cameras for auto-focus and
Transmission and
optical-image-stabilization is customized and optimized for our designed transceiver to expand the transmitter and
Evaluation
receiver field-of-view, control both the transmitted and incident laser beam alignment, suppress the effects of random
V. Conclusion beam angle-of-arrival fluctuations induced by the atmospheric turbulence and pointing errors and maintain efficient
direct coupling to the fiber core at the receiver. Unlike the 2-axis fast-steering-mirrors, the use of 3-axis VCM lenses
PDF
Authors can not only maintain the beam alignment, but also control the beam collimation and adjust the difference between the
Help
lens focal plane and projection plane for a higher fiber coupling efficiency. Using our developed FSO transceivers, we
Figures demonstrate an error-free transmission of the standard signals 10 GbE LAN and common public radio interface (LTE-
CPRI) over 200 m links. We also performed a continuous 24-h transmission evaluation in a clear weather day, with only
References occasional burst errors were recorded and a total 24-h BER of 3 ×10−10 . The obtained results demonstrate the
Loading [MathJax]/extensions/MathMenu.js
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9695207 1/17
3/27/24, 2:41 PM New Generation Free-Space Optical Communication Systems With Advanced Optical Beam Stabilizer | IEEE Journals & Magazin…
Citations potential of our proposed FSO transceiver to ensure high-capacity communication links and facilitate the adoption of
Keywords the FSO system as a viable candidate to address the main requirements of B5G/6G networks.
Metrics Published in: Journal of Lightwave Technology ( Volume: 40 , Issue: 5, 01 March 2022)
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Page(s): 1509 - 1518 DOI: 10.1109/JLT.2022.3146252
Date of Publication: 27 January 2022  Publisher: IEEE
 ISSN Information:
Contents
CCBY - IEEE is not the copyright holder of this material. Please follow the instructions via
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ to obtain full-text articles and stipulations in the API
documentation. 
SECTION I. 
Introduction
With the ever-increasing of global mobile data traffic, there is a consensus that 5G/6G networks will
enable faster data speeds, higher capacity, lower latency, and massive connectivity [1]. These
requirements will lead to almost similar performance to the current fiber-to-the-home services, and
thus they will pose a huge challenge to the legacy optical access network [2], [3]. Despite the clear
advantages of the optical fiber communications for 5G/6G networks, the lack of deployment
flexibility, resiliency and cost make their operation challenging, especially in dense urban areas, as
well as remote areas lacking fiber infrastructure [4], [5]. Moreover, the Telecom operators need
continuously to dig up streets and install new equipment required to connect a large number of
their sprawling central offices (COs). To address these issues, free-space optics (FSO) system has
been recognized as a promising wireless interconnecting technology for high-capacity, cost, and
energy-efficient communication networks ensuring data-rate similar to that provided by optical
fiber links, but at a fraction of their deployment cost [5]–[10]. The wireless feature of the FSO link
enables an agile and resilient communication system, for both dense urban and rural areas, as well
as areas that are likely susceptible to outages from fiber cuts.
The FSO communication bands are license-free and have abundant bandwidth spanning from
visible to infrared (IR) bands, where the available spectrum depends mainly on the transmission
window of the atmosphere. For instance, for the IR-based FSO system, the available transmission
windows are 850, 1310, and 1550 nm bands, which coincide well with the standard optical fiber
communication. Despite its potential advantages, the FSO link has certain inherent limitations and
challenges that should be addressed carefully for a stable and reliable communication system. These
challenges include absorption and scattering loss (e.g. fog, rain,..), and atmospheric turbulence (e.g.
beam wander, scintillation) [11], [12]. Furthermore, the FSO link is restricted to stringent line-of-
sight (LOS) requirements, which requires advanced pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT)
techniques [13].
Recently several research efforts have been proposed to design reliable and high-capacity FSO
systems, from fixed terrestrial to high-altitude moving platforms (i.e. drones, satellites) [10], [14]–
[22]. To increase the system reliability and field-of-regard, the beam tracking is usually split into
coarse and fine tracking modules, which corresponds to the alignment process of the incident beam PDF
to the antenna telescope lens and the fiber-core or PD apertures, respectively. For rough tracking, Help
the current systems typically implement 2-axis gimbals and/or larger aperture fast steering mirrors
(FSMs), while for fine tracking miniaturized FSMs are commonly used [14], [15]. The FSMs can
deflect and steer accurately the incident beam onto the receiving aperture and they are developed
using three types of actuators: mechanical, piezoelectric (PZT), and micro-electromechanical
systems (MEMS) [16]. In [17], [18], the authors proposed a typical FSO transceiver with gimbal
and beacon signals for rough tracking and large bandwidth FSM for fine tracking. Using a similar
design, multiple standard wireless signals [19] and 1.28 Tbps digital signal [10], were successfully
transmitted. In these systems, a fiber-optics-based optical circulator was used to enable full-duplex
transmission. However, with this circulator, it is not possible to control independently the optical
path of the transmitter and receiver. Another typical design for satellite laser communication
systems was proposed in [20], [21]. Here, the authors developed an FSO transceiver with FSM for
fine tracking, while for rough tracking, they implemented an attitude determination and control
systems (ADCS) with the cubesat body pointing. To enable full-duplex transmission, the authors
implemented a polarization beam splitter and assigned separated wavelengths for transmission and
reception. However, this technique may not be practical for fiber-to-fiber systems, where the optical
signal polarization remains a challenging issue. In [22], the authors proposed a high speed retro-
reflective FSO system between ground station and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). In this system,
the gimbal was used for trough tracking, while for fine tracking/pointing, two separated modules
were implemented for transmission (i.e. spatial light modulator (SLM)) and reception (i.e FSM). To
enable full-duplex transmission, the optical system was arranged in a bi-static configuration.
Indeed, this design can improve the isolation between both two optical paths, but it will increase the
link loss and the transceiver mass and size.
In this paper, we introduce the design and concept of our newly developed full-duplex all-optical
FSO transceiver. Unlike the existing FSO system that is based on 2-axis FSM technology, we
propose to utilize a miniaturized cost-effective 3-axis voice-coil motors (VCMs)-based movable lens
[23], [24]. Using this technology, we can implement the tracking module with a similar
performance to the FSM, but with a simpler optical path design, especially when used for fiber
coupling. Indeed, we can not only maintain the beam alignment as for FSM, but also we can control
the beam collimation and adjust the difference between the lens focal plane and projection plane for
a higher fiber coupling efficiency.
The VCM lens, that is widely used in the current smartphone and digital cameras for auto-focus
(AF) and optical image stabilization (OIS) functionalities [25], is customized and optimized for our
newly designed transceiver to (i) expand the transmitter and receiver FOV, (ii) control both the
transmitted and incident beam alignment, (iii) suppress the effects of random beam angle-of-arrival
(AOA) fluctuations induced by the atmospheric turbulence and pointing errors, and (iv) maintain
efficient direct coupling to the fiber core at the receiver.
To enable full-duplex transmission, we also developed for the first-time an polarization-

independent free space-based optical circulator (FSO-C) which can ensure similar flexibility as the
binocular transceiver, so that the transmitted and received beams can be controlled efficiently and
independently. Our FSO-C is based on similar design of the fiber-optic optical circulators. Utilizing
a single transmitting and receiving lens, the FSO-C will not only enable full-duplex transmission but
also eliminate the impact of the optical antenna roll, which is critical for binocular FSO transceivers
on moving platforms.
In this paper, we introduce the design and concept of our newly developed full-duplex all-optical
FSO transceiver and evaluate its performance in a 200 m outdoor environment. Our transceiver
enables fiber-to-fiber (F2F) communication system with dynamic optical-beam-stabilization (OBS)
by utilizing a cost-effective 3-axis VCMs movable lens [23], [24]. To maintain a dynamic laser beam
pointing and tracking control, we developed and implemented an intelligent coordination
algorithms between all VCM actuators using the received optical power and quadrant photodetector
(QPD) sensor data. These control algorithms allow us to optimize the 3D position for all lenses so
that the received optical power coupled to the fiber core can be maximized and stabilized.
Using our developed FSO transceivers, we demonstrate an error-free transmission of the standard
signals 10 GbE LAN and 10 channels of common public radio interface (LTE-CPRI) over 200 m
free-space links. Two different scenarios were considered: (i) reflected-back using a ϕ 50 mm
PDF
corner-cube and (ii) loop-back by directly coupling the received optical signal to the transmission
port after amplification. Help
The rest of this paper is organized as follows: the architecture of all-optical FSO system and its
enabling technologies are introduced in Section II, where the advantages and differences between
Loading [MathJax]/extensions/MathMenu.jsmixed and all-optical FSO system are explained. Then, we provide a detailed concept and operation
of our OBS technology. In Section III, we present our proposed full-duplex all-optical FSO
transceiver with an integrated FSO-C and dynamic OBS. The experimental setup and outdoor
transmission evaluation are presented and discussed in Section IV. Finally, conclusions are given in
Section V.
SECTION II.
FSO System Architecture and
Transceiver Design
In general, the FSO system can be developed using two main architectures: (i) mixed electrical-
optical FSO and (ii) all-optical FSO. Fig. 1 illustrates the general overview of mixed and all-optical
FSO system.
Fig. 1. - General architecture of FSO system: (a) Mixed electrical-optical FSO. (b)
All-optical FSO system.

Fig. 1.
General architecture of FSO system: (a) Mixed electrical-optical FSO. (b) All-optical
FSO system.
A. Mixed Electrical-Optical FSO Transceivers

The existing commercial systems are based on mixed electrical-optical FSO transceivers which rely
on the implementation of O/E, E/O converters as well as signal processing blocks at the transceiver
terminal. Fig. 1(a) illustrates a general architecture of the mixed electrical-optical FSO system. This
system typically operates at wavelengths that lie from visible to near-IR bands and can have wider
FOV. Basically, this system implements wide beam divergence at the transmitter and large diameter
surface-illuminated photo-diode (PD) at the receiver, which makes the pointing and tracking
mechanisms very relaxed. However, the transmission bandwidth and data rate are always limited by
the used O/E and E/O characteristics and performance. In order to improve the system capacity, a
broadband PD with high receiver sensitivity is required. In fact, there is a trade-off between the
surface-illuminated PD active area and its electrical bandwidth [26], [27]. Therefore, to enable a
larger bandwidth FSO transceiver, a smaller aperture PD with a focusing lens will be utilized,
leading to a smaller FoV and thus an active beam tracking mechanism and/or PD array should be
implemented.
PDF
B. All-Optical FSO Transceivers Help
In order to satisfy the main requirements of B5G/6G networks in terms of capacity, scalability,
flexibility, and low latency, it is desirable to use only optical elements (e.g. lenses, mirrors,..) for
both transmitter and receiver. In this scenario, the O/E and E/O blocs should be omitted at the FSO
Loading [MathJax]/extensions/MathMenu.jstransceiver leading to a seamless integration of optical fiber and free-space links with direct fiber-
coupling, as depicted in Fig. 1(b). Such system also referred to as all-optical FSO, will be compatible
with the existing fiber infrastructure, as well as protocol and waveform transparent. Using the
1310/1550 nm window, multi-Gbps wireless transmission can be achieved by leveraging the
technology developed for optical fiber communication such as erbium-doped fiber amplifier
(EDFA), semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA), large bandwidth PD (e.g. uni-traveling carrier
photodiodes (UTC-PD)), and wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM), as well as the new
generation of small form-factor pluggable (e.g. SFP+, QSFP28,...) optical modular transceivers that
are widely used for both telecom and data communications applications. Moreover, all-optical FSO
system will be compatible with the high capacity analog radio-over fiber system which is considered
as a potential candidate for B5G/6G networks [28]–[30]. However, they require advanced laser
beam pointing and tracking control mechanism.
The beam tracking can be split into coarse and fine tracking, which corresponds to the alignment
process of the incident beam to the antenna telescope lens and the fiber-core apertures,
respectively. Fine tracking is crucial for all-optical FSO system and is usually performed using fast
steering mirrors (FSMs) [10], [19]. Using controlled 2-axis actuators, the FSM can deflect and steer
accurately the incident beam onto the receiving aperture. However, the optical path is difficult to
design and the system is costly especially when used for fiber coupling.
C. Optical Beam Stabilizer Approach
As an alternative to the FSM technology, we propose a novel approach for pointing and tracking
mechanism based on lens-based OBS [23], [24]. The OBS is implemented using a cost-effective 3-
axis VCM actuator, which is widely used in the current smartphones and digital cameras for AF and
OIS modules, owing to its low cost, low power consumption, quick response, and small size. Fig.
2(a) shows the basic structure of the VCM actuator. The OIS technique consists of physically moving
the camera lens to compensate for image quality degradation and blurring induced by the natural
hand jitter and camera motion. As illustrated in Fig. 2(b), by moving the lenses, the OIS can control
and adjust the optical path between the target and image sensor, and thus the received image can be
kept steady.
Fig. 2. - (a) Overview of VCM lens structure. (b) Basic principle of OIS for cameras.

Fig. 2.
(a) Overview of VCM lens structure. (b) Basic principle of OIS for cameras.
The VCM actuator is a direct drive motor that can achieve high precision position servo control. It
has many applications in the field of high-frequency reciprocating linear motion. The VCM operates
using a simple principle of electromagnetism so that when electricity passes through a coil, it
produces a magnetic field that reacts with a permanent magnet to either repel or attract the coil. In
general, the VCM actuator consists of two main modules. The first module is fixed and includes two
PDF
magnets, known as yoke and base, while the second module is moving and has the lens with holder Help
attached using coils [25]. Thus, based on the Lorentz-Force principle, the lens can be moved by a
distance that is directly proportional to the current applied to the coil.
In order to implement the OBS feature in the FSO transceiver using VCM actuators, several
important characteristics and parameters should be taken into consideration, which include:
1) Transfer curve: the relationship between applied current and VCM actuator displacement. The
3-axis VCM displacements and lens movements are detected using a hall sensor, which is part
of the VCM actuator.
2) Stroke: the largest displacement that the VCM actuator can make, which usually corresponds
to the maximum applied current. Depending on the transceiver optical design, a larger stroke
can lead to higher FoV and can give more flexibility to the lens movement.
3) Linearity: the VCM stroke exhibits a linear relationship with the applied current and thus the
movement of the lens to the desired position can be easily controlled. Also, simpler and faster
control algorithms can be implemented.
4) Hysteresis: the position deviation when the VCM moves forward and backward at the same
current value. Typically, the VCM has low hysteresis. In fact, for the case of all-optical FSO
system, motors with larger hysteresis may lead to the received optical power fluctuation during
feedback control.
5) Slope: which describes both the direction and steepness of the VCM transfer curve. The slope
can define the lens displacement control resolution and direction. It is important for stability
and control accuracy.
6) Speed and bandwidth: which describes how fast the VCM responds. The VCM speed and
bandwidth are very crucial to mitigate the high-frequency beam misalignment induced by
scintillation and beam wander.
7) Gravity: when the lens moves upward and downward, the gravity of the lens may be added to
the electromagnetic force. Hence, a compensation force balance should be considered.
The miniaturized VCM-based lens can provide high beam steering performance and quick
response at a lower cost. To better clarify the VCM lens operation for compensating the beam
deviation, we performed a ray-tracing simulation of the optical path using the Zemax OpticsStudio
simulator [33]. As illustrated in Fig. 3, The optical system consists of two lenses (i.e. VCML1 and
VCML2) that will be used for steering and another lens (i.e. VCML3) for focusing on the projection
plane. The focal length of each lens is 5 mm. For reference, we plotted in Fig. 3(a), the laser path
simulation for straight and static beam alignment. As shown in Fig. 3(b), when the incident beam
is deviated by 5 degrees, the laser beam spot position is largely shifted from the center (0 μm, 0
μm) to about (0 μm, −600 μm). Furthermore, due to the chromatic aberrations, laser spot
deformation can also be observed. In Fig. 3(c), it is clear that by simply shifting the VCM1&2
lenses to the appropriate position, the laser spot deviation can be fully compensated. For instance,
in order to compensate the 5 degrees beam deviation, the VCML1 and VCML2 should be shifted in
the y-direction by −300 μm and +300 μm respectively. Unlike the 2-axis FSMs-based system, the
use of 3-axis VCM lenses can not only maintain the beam alignment but also control the beam
collimation and adjust the difference between the lens focal plane and projection plane for a higher
fiber coupling efficiency.
Fig. 3. - Concept of VCM lens operation using Zemax simulation. (a) Static
alignment with optimal optical path. (b) Beam spot deviation without VCM lens
compensation. (c) Beam spot deviation with VCM lens compensation.
PDF
Help

Fig. 3.
Concept of VCM lens operation using Zemax simulation. (a) Static alignment with
optimal optical path. (b) Beam spot deviation without VCM lens compensation. (c)
Beam spot deviation with VCM lens compensation.
SECTION III.
All-Optical FSO Transceiver With
Dynamic Optical Beam Stabilization
In this section, we introduce the concept and design of our novel all-optical and full-duplex FSO
transceiver based on FSO-C and OBS technologies. First, we show the configuration of internal
antenna optical devices and optical layout design, then we introduce the implemented control block
diagram and the operation of each block. In this FSO terminal, the FSO-C and OBS systems were
designed, optimized and developed to get higher performance transmission.
A. FSO Transceiver Design

The optical path and system layout of our proposed FSO transceiver is depicted in Fig. 4(a). Five
VCM actuators were implemented to control the 3-axis position of the lenses that are placed on the
receiving and transmitting optical path, and thus the received light deflection angle and fiber
coupling can be controlled efficiently. As shown in Fig. 4(b), the size of our miniaturized VCM
actuator and lens are 12 mm × 12 mm × 5 mm and ϕ 8 mm, respectively.
Fig. 4. - Our proposed all-optical FSO transceiver design. (a) Optical path and
system layout. (b) Photograph of our used VCM lens. (c) Transceiver overview.

Fig. 4.
Our proposed all-optical FSO transceiver design. (a) Optical path and system layout.
(b) Photograph of our used VCM lens. (c) Transceiver overview.
To enable fiber-to-fiber and full-duplex transmission, we developed for the first time a 3-ports
polarization independent FSO-C, that has similar characteristics of the fiber-based optical
circulator. It consists of four main components, i.e., 45 Faraday rotator (FR), half-wave plate
∘
(HWP), a polarizing beam splitter (PBS), and a prism mirror. In this circulator, the isolation PDF
between the three ports is more than 25 dB and the insertion loss is less than 0.5 dB. Unlike the
Help
fiber-based optical calculator that can be placed at the receiving port of the FSO transceiver, the
FSO-C can enable efficient and independent control of the transmitted and received beams similar
to the binocular FSO transceiver, which leads to a simple and flexible optical path design. Indeed,
utilizing a single transmitting and receiving lens, the FSO-C will not only enable full-duplex
transmission but also eliminate the impact of the optical antenna roll, in particular for narrow
beam FSO links and moving platforms.
By adjusting the 3D position of the VCM5 lens, the incoming laser beam transmitted from the SMF
is aligned and expanded to the ϕ 2 mm beam. The collimated beam passes through the FSO-C, and
then undergoes a 1:7.5 beam expansion process to ϕ 15 mm, before being transmitted to the air. At
the Rx. side, the beam is received using a ϕ 50 mm lens, aligned using VCM1&2, passed through the
FSO-C, and then seamlessly coupled to the fiber core using both the fine tracking module based on
VCM1&2 and the fiber coupling module that is based on VCM4. To operate the fine tracking
module, we used a 10:90 beam splitter and a QPD as a tracking sensor. In fact, the QPD sensor
outperforms the image sensors in terms of beam position accuracy and response time [31]. In order
to focus the beam to the QPD sensor, we placed another VCM actuator (i.e VCM3), where the lens
position (x,y) was initially adjusted so that the laser beam spot is centered at the QPD aperture,
while its z-value is used to control the beam spot size. The tilted angle of the received wavefront
was estimated and used by the proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller for ordering the
VCM1&2 to minimize the deflection angle.
In this terminal, we implemented a commercial VCM actuator that was specifically designed for
smart-phone cameras, where its available control bandwidth can reach up to 100 Hz. In our system,
the control bandwidth was limited to up 100 Hz, due to (i) the used off-the-shelves VCM technology
bandwidth (that is developed for smartphone camera), (ii) the closed-loop servo bandwidth and (iii)
the movable lens weight. The parameters of the PID controller was adjusted carefully for both x and
y directions to increase the bandwidth by as high as possible.
Fig. 5 illustrates the x- and y-axis response of our VCM stroke (μm) with the applied current (mA).
From the figure, by changing the current between −50 mA and +50 mA, the VCM will move
linearly from −120 μm to +120 μm, with a full stroke of 240 μm and can reach even 300 μm.
Hence, by maintaining the VCM displacement at the linear region, we can easily control the
movement of the lenses to the desired position. In our design, the hysteresis tolerance and gravity
of the lens system have been taken into account for higher performance of upward and downward
displacement.
Fig. 5. - VCM actuator stroke vs. applied current.

Fig. 5.
VCM actuator stroke vs. applied current.
PDF
To allow maximum coupling efficiency, the VCM4 z-value was controlled so that the focused spot
Help
size becomes comparable to the fiber core size. According to Gaussian optics, in order to couple a
collimated laser beam with wavelength λ and diameter D into a fiber of mode field diameter d ,
B F
the coupling lens focal length should be f . Fig. 6 plots the received optical power profile
πD B dF
=
4λ
for VCM 4 that is used for fiber coupling. The power data were measured using 10μm SMF core
Loading [MathJax]/extensions/MathMenu.jsand by moving the VCM4 lens positions x and y in a spiral way and for different z positions (i.e.
0μm , −90μm and −175μm). Thanks to the VCM linearity, we can easily control the fiber coupling
efficiency for better system performance. Indeed, for the incident collimated beam, the power
profile at the fiber core also shows Gaussian behavior. Hence, by modifying the z value, the power
profile size and peak power can be controlled efficiently.
Fig. 6. - Received optical power profile for different $z$ value of VCM4. (a) $z=0$.
(b) $z=-90\, \mu \text{m}$. (c) $z=-175\, \mu \text{m}$.

Fig. 6.
Received optical power profile for different z value of VCM4. (a) z = 0. (b)
z = −90 μm. (c) z = −175 μm .
B. OBS Design and Implementation

In our FSO transceiver, the OBS system incorporates different modules and components for
sensing, compensation, and control to accurately correct the incoming beam on-axis deviation, as
well as, the optical antenna movement, such as the pan-tilt deviation. Using the received optical
power and the QPD sensor data, we implemented the OBS system based on an intelligent
coordination algorithm between all five VCM and gimbal actuators, so that a dynamic pointing and
tracking control can be maintained. These algorithms allow us to optimize the 3D position for all
lenses, where the received optical power coupled to fiber core can be maximized and stabilized. By
placing the fine tracking VCM (i.e. VCM1&2) between the FSO-C and transceiver telescope enables
simultaneous alignment control of both received beam with the fiber core, and the transmitted
beam with opposite antenna aperture. Therefore, the two FSO antennas can cooperate and maintain
on-axis transmitting and receiving beams, without the need for external communication tools.
Fig. 7 illustrates the block diagram of the five main control processes that are used for (i) beaconless
initial alignment (ii) tracking/pointing, and (iii) fiber coupling. In the following, we describe in
detail each module and how the control processes are implemented:
Fig. 7. - Block diagram of the five main control processes that are used for
beaconless initial alignment, tracking/pointing and fiber coupling. $ V_{X}$ and
$V_{Y}$ indicate actuator’s X and Y voltages.
PDF
Help
Loading [MathJax]/extensions/MathMenu.js 
Fig. 7.
Block diagram of the five main control processes that are used for beaconless initial
alignment, tracking/pointing and fiber coupling. VX and VY indicate actuator’s X and
Y voltages.
1) Beaconless Initial Alignment

At the first step, we use a guide-scope to reduce the acquisition uncertainty area by adjusting the
antennas heading direction. Then, we place a ϕ 15 mm corner-cube at the center of the opposite
antenna aperture, so that the reflected beam and the expected actual received beam from the
opposite antenna can be on-axis. Next step, we start the beaconless initial alignment by scanning
the two-axis gimbal in a spiral way within the acquisition uncertainty area, until the reflected beam
from the corner-cube is detected by the ϕ 3 mm QPD sensor (Fig. 7: Gimbal Process. We then
repeat the scanning process with a smaller resolution step until the received optical power is
maximized. Since our used 2-axis gimbal scanning resolution is low (i.e. 17 μ rad), we improve the
received optical power by scanning the laser beam in a spiral way using the VCM5 actuator, which
has a resolution step of 2.5 μ rad ( Fig. 7: VCM5 Process). In the VCM5 process, we can also select
the appropriate beam divergence for initial alignment by controlling the z-position of the VCM5
lens. For instance, by increasing the beam divergence, the scan resolution step can be increased
and thus the acquisition time can be reduced. Moreover, by adjusting the (x,y)-position of the
VCM5 lens, we can control the “point ahead angle” (PAA) [32], which is a critical parameter,
especially when the relative angular velocity of the two FSO transceivers increases.
For the second transceiver, we use similar process done for the first antenna using another corner-
cube placed at the center of the first antenna aperture.
Next, we remove the corner-cube and we evaluate the received optical power, using the actual
received beam from both transceivers. Here, we may need to adjust slightly the lenses position of
the VCM3 (Fig. 7: VCM3 Process) and the VCM4 ( Fig. 7: VCM4 Process), so that the beam spot and
position at the QPD sensor are optimized and the received optical power at the fiber core is
maximized.
2) Tracking Module
In order to design all-optical FSO system with direct coupling to the fiber core, two main tracking
modules should be implemented:
a) Coarse tracking module: which enables the alignment of the incident laser beam axis with the
normal axis of the receiving antenna (i.e. telescope) aperture. The coarse tracking system is
also used for initial alignment and typically implemented using two-axis gimbal, acquisition
sensor (e.g. CCD camera) and reference beacon with large beam divergence. In our
transceiver, we adopt beaconless coarse tracking system, where the ϕ 3 mm QPD sensor can be
used.
b) Fine tracking module: which is most critical for all-optical FSO transceivers. It enables the
alignment of incident laser beam axis with the normal axis of the fiber core aperture. The beam
tracking system typically consists of (i) a tracking sensor such as QPD and (ii) a beam-steering
device, such as mirror-based FSM. In our transceiver, we adopt VCM lens-based OBS.
Combining the two tracking modules, a more effective tracking mechanism can be realized. Fig. 8
shows the schematic diagram of our tracking controller. The tilted angle of the received wavefront
as a result of AOA fluctuations is detected by the QPD and the corresponding beam relative
deviation from the QPD center is calculated. This position will be used by the PID controller to
calculate the required 2D shift control for the VCM1&2 lenses so that the deflection angle is PDF
minimized.
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Fig. 8. - Control loop diagram for FSO tracking system.

Fig. 8.
Control loop diagram for FSO tracking system.
Since the transmitted beam divergence is narrow (i.e. 120 μ rad) and the antenna aperture size is
small (i.e. ϕ 50 mm), the FSO link is susceptible to antennas misalignment. In order to maintain
the laser beam inside the QPD sensor control zone, we set dynamic upper- and lower-bound values
for the VCM shift control. Hence, when the VCM actuator reaches the control zone boundaries, we
order the gimbal actuator to move and bring back the received laser beam to the control zone.
SECTION IV.
Experimental Transmission and
Evaluation
In order to evaluate the transmission performance of our full-duplex and all-optical FSO system,
two developed transceivers, TRx1 and TRx2, were placed in an outdoor environment within the
TOYO Electric factory premise and separated by a distance of 100 m. A schematic diagram
representing the experimental setup of the FSO system is shown in Fig. 9. For the evaluation
purpose, we assigned different beam divergence to each transceiver, which is 120 μrad and 870 μ
rad for TRx1 and TRx2, respectively.
Fig. 9. - Experimental setup for our FSO system evaluation.
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
Fig. 9.
Experimental setup for our FSO system evaluation.
To investigate the efficiency of our pointing and tracking mechanism using the OBS with
coordinated VCM control, we modified the vertical position of TRx1 upward and downward within
a range of 30 cm, which is limited by the maximum adjustable height of the used tripods. The
normalized received optical power for different values of the up and down deviation from − 10 cm
to 20 cm is shown in Fig. 10. Here the TRx.2 is the transmitter, while TRx.1 is the receiver. When
the OBS control is OFF, the optical power drops by 30 dBr for a deviation position less than ±1
cm. By applying the OBS control at the TRx1, the controlled deviation could exceed ±4 cm and ±7
cm, with − 3 dBr and − 9 dBr degradation respectively. On the other hand, by activating
simultaneously the OBS control of both transceivers and assuming that the received beam is
Gaussian, the controlled deviation could reach up to ±13 cm and ±20 cm with 3 dBr and 9 dBr
degradation, respectively.
Fig. 10. - OBS performance with terminal up and down deviation.

Fig. 10.
OBS performance with terminal up and down deviation.
Fig. 11 illustrates the OBS performance with pointing error. In this evaluation, we checked the
received power at TRx1 while modifying the VCM 5 (x,y) values of the TRx2 in a spiral way. From
the figure, It is clear that ±0.05 deg can be controlled efficiently at a distance of 100 m. Our
coordinated OBS control for the pointing and tracking system ensures a significant improvement
of the receiver FOV with less complexity and minimum electronic overhead. Moreover, our
proposed system shows potential for application in moving platforms and building sway.
Fig. 11. - Controlled received beam with pointing error.
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
Fig. 11.
Controlled received beam with pointing error.
To further evaluate the performance of our OBS system, the received power fluctuation control on a
clear and windy day was measured and plotted in Fig. 12. The power data was collected every 1 ms
and the wind speed was about 14 m/s. Since the TRx was placed on the tripod, the strong wind led
to antennas misalignment power fading (i.e. pointing error). From the figure, when the OBS was
OFF, the impact of the wind was large. However, by activating the OBS control, the deep power
fading fluctuation was successfully eliminated.
Fig. 12. - OBS performance under a clear and windy weather.

Fig. 12.
OBS performance under a clear and windy weather.
We used a bit-error-rate tester (BERT) (Anritsu MP2100 A) for generating two standard signals: 10
channels of LTE CPRI with a total bit-rate of 6.144 Gbit/s and 10 GbE LAN. The generated signal
with a PRBS length of 2 − 1, was converted to the optical signal using an SFP+ media converter,
23
amplified by a boost EDFA, and then directly plugged into the fiber connector of the TRx1. Here,
the transmitted optical power was +10 dBm. At the TRx2, two scenarios were considered
reflected-back (R-B) using a ϕ50 mm corner-cube and loop-back (L-B) by directly coupling the
received optical signal to the transmission port after amplification using another EDFA. The
recovered optical signal was then transmitted back to the TRx1, seamlessly coupled to the SMF,
and then received by the BERT for evaluation. Fig. 13 depicts the BER curves generated for back-
to-back (B2B) and after transmission over 2 × 100 m reflected- and loop-back links. From the
figure, an error-free transmission with a clear open eye diagram can be obtained for both 10 x LTE
CPRI and 10 GbE signals, using both scenarios. From the figure and compared to the B2B case,
there is less than 1 dB and 1.5 dB power penalty when BER= 10 −10
, for reflected-back and loop-
back scenarios, respectively. The insets depict the eye diagram for both received signals with 25
min persistence and optical power of − 17 dBm. It is clear that no additional degradation and
distortion can be observed after transmission using our FSO transceivers.
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Fig. 13. - BER performance for 10 GbE LAN and 10xCPRI signals for B2B, reflected-
back (R-B), and loop-back (L-B) scenarios.

Fig. 13.
BER performance for 10 GbE LAN and 10xCPRI signals for B2B, reflected-back (R-B),
and loop-back (L-B) scenarios.
We also evaluated the BER performance of our FSO system over a continuous 24 h period. We
performed real-time transmission of 10 GbE standard signal over a reflected-back 200-m link,
where the beam divergence was set to 120 μ rad and transmission power is + 10 dBm. In this
experiment, the weather condition was clear, with the recorded temperature that lies from +8 C ∘
to +18 C and the relative humidity was about 90% in early morning/dawn and 50% around noon.
∘
Since, our FSO transceivers were placed 1.5 m above the soil and 0.5 m above the plants as shown
Fig. 14(a), the atmospheric turbulence condition can be characterized as weak to moderate. The
BER results and the received optical power characteristics are shown in Fig. 14(b). The measured
BER was collected in a period of 30 seconds, while the received optical power was collected every
500 milli-seconds and averaged over a period of 30 seconds. We also plotted in Fig. 14(c), the
weather temperature and the measured AoA azimuth and elevation angles, which are calculated
from the VCM1 (VCM2) lens X and Y shift (i.e. control) and collected every 1.5 seconds.
Fig. 14. - 24 h evaluation of the FSO system performance over 200 m reflected-
back scenario. (a) Experiment environment and transceiver view. (b) BER values
together with the corresponding Rx. optical power. (c) Variation of the temperature
and the measured AoA azimuth/elevation angles.

Fig. 14.
24 h evaluation of the FSO system performance over 200 m reflected-back scenario. PDF
(a) Experiment environment and transceiver view. (b) BER values together with the
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corresponding Rx. optical power. (c) Variation of the temperature and the measured
AoA azimuth/elevation angles.
From Fig. 14(b), continuous error-free transmission is observed with rare occasional burst errors
around noon and the evening. The burst errors that occurred around noon were attributed to the
changes in the ambient temperature. From the figure, the few burst errors BER values were less
than 4 × 10 , the total measured 24-h BER was about 3 × 10
−7
and the mean recorded received
−10
optical power was about −3 dBm, confirming the stable performance of the FSO transceiver. As
can be seen in Fig. 14(c) and during the same time period, the AoA fluctuation is also high, which
leads to faster OBS control. Since our used VCM control bandwidth is up to 100 Hz, the fine
pointing/tracking mechanism can not suppress all the rapid beam AoA fluctuations due to the
insufficient tracking dynamic range. Similar to the VCM-based FSM systems [34], [35] and using
customized VCM actuator with closed-loop servo bandwidth up to 1 kHz, the performance of the
OBS can be significantly improved for the case of strong turbulence. In fact, the VCM actuator can
be developed to steer our designed movable lens, taking into account the lens weight and the
required full-stroke for tracking. Moreover, the closed-loop servo bandwidth combined with
optimized PID servo controller should be tuned to up 1 kHz. Nevertheless, the OBS technology can
compensate the antenna misalignment throughout the day, which is strongly correlated with the
temperature. For instance, in this experiment environment, about 400 μ rad AoA azimuth and
elevation could be controlled.
SECTION V.
Conclusion
We introduced the concept, design and evaluation of our newly developed FSO transceiver, based
on a novel lens-based OBS technology for dynamic laser beam pointing and tracking. Owing to the
transceiver optical design and the intelligent coordination between all the VCM actuators, a wider
transceiver FOV was achieved, as well as an error-free transmission of the standards 10 GbE LAN
and 10 LTE-CPRI channels (at 6-Gbit/s) over a reflected- and loop-back 2×100 m FSO link. We
also performed a continuous 24 h transmission of the 10 GbE LAN signal over the reflected-back
link in a clear weather day. Only occasional burst errors were recorded with a total BER of
3 × 10 . By using wider bandwidth VCM actuator and further improving the OBS software and
−10
hardware, the overall FSO system reliability can be significantly increased in the case of strong
turbulence.
The obtained evaluation results demonstrate the potential of our proposed all-optical FSO
transceiver to ensure reliable high-capacity communication links and thus facilitate the adoption of
the FSO system as a viable candidate to address the main requirements of B5G/6G networks.
Authors 
Figures 
References 
Citations 
Keywords 
Metrics 
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Abdelmoula Bekkali ; Hideo Fujita ; Michikazu Hattori All Authors 

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III. All-Optical FSO

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Date of Publication: 27 January 2022  Publisher: IEEE

To enable full-duplex transmission, we also developed for the first-time an polarization-

A. Mixed Electrical-Optical FSO Transceivers

A. FSO Transceiver Design

Fig. 5. - VCM actuator stroke vs. applied current.

B. OBS Design and Implementation

1) Beaconless Initial Alignment

Fig. 8. - Control loop diagram for FSO tracking system.

Fig. 9. - Experimental setup for our FSO system evaluation.

Fig. 10. - OBS performance with terminal up and down deviation.

Fig. 11. - Controlled received beam with pointing error.

Fig. 12. - OBS performance under a clear and windy weather.

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A compact optical transmitter and receiver for 10-Gbit/s transceiver modules

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